Bills to ease ballot access have made progress in at least eight states:

Alabama: on February 20, the House Constitution, Campaigns & Elections Committee passed HB 327. The bill cuts the number of signatures from 3% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1.5%, for statewide non-presidential candidates and for newly-qualifying parties for statewide and district office (but not county office).

If this bill becomes law, it will take effect immediately. If enacted, Oklahoma would be the only state with no means for a new party to appear on the ballot without support from more than 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote.

However, the Alabama bill moves the petition deadline for new parties from the date of the primary, to the date on which major party members file for the primary. That latter change is clearly unconstitutional under a 1991 Eleventh Circuit opinion, New Alliance Party of Alabama v Hand.

Arizona: on February 20, the legislature passed HB 2196, which repeals the omnibus election law bill of 2013. That 2013 bill had included a provision making it almost impossible for a member of a ballot-qualified party to get on his or her party’s primary ballot. The 2013 bill also made it impossible for small parties to nominate anyone by write-in vote in their own primaries.

The 2014 action by the legislature was motivated by the success of a referendum petition against the 2013 bill. The voters were set to vote on whether to repeal the 2013 law, and the legislature probably assumes the voters would have repealed the law anyway, so it chose to cancel the popular vote.

The Democratic Party strongly opposes the 2013 bill and provided the great bulk of resources to get the signatures for the referendum.

California: on February 21, Assemblymember Richard Gordon introduced AB 2351, which lowers the number of registered voters for a group to get on the ballot and remain on the ballot. The new registration test would be .33% of the state registration total. That would be approximately 60,000 members.

The motivation for this change is that the old method for keeping a party on the ballot, that it poll 2% for any of its statewide candidates in a midterm year, won’t work any more, because California now only permits two candidates on the November ballot for statewide office other than president. No one expects a minor party member will be on the November ballot for statewide office as long as the top-two system remains in place.

The bill also says a party can retain its qualified status if its candidates for a any statewide race poll 2% in the June primary.

Also, on February 21, Assemblymember Tim Donnelly introduced AB 2233, which does not now make any substantive change to how parties get and remain on the ballot, but which can be amended later to do that. Assemblymember Donnelly favors easing the ballot access laws.

Maine: last year, the legislature eased the method for a group to become a qualified party. This is old news, but B.A.N. had not reported it. The new method requires the group to obtain at least 5,000 registered members. The old method was a petition signed by 5% of the last vote cast. The old method was so difficult, it had existed since 1976 but had only been used twice, by the Reform Party in 1995 and Americans Elect in 2011. The 2013 change happened because the Secretary of State asked for the bill, because American Elect had submitted almost 50,000 signatures and it was burdensome to check all those signatures.

A flaw in the new method is that election officials won’t keep track of registrants in the group, unless the group notifies the state in December of an even-numbered year that it intends to do a registration drive. In effect, this creates an absurdly early deadline. A party can’t come into existence for a particular election unless it starts almost two years before that election.

Maryland: on February 17, State Senator William Ferguson (D-Baltimore) introduced SB 1032. It lowers the number of registrations needed for a party to remain on the ballot from 1% of the state total, to exactly 10,000. Currently the only two ballot-qualified parties on the ballot are the Green and Libertarian Parties, who are on because they petitioned in 2011. Libertarians have more than 10,000 registrants and Greens have almost 10,000.

New Hampshire: on February 21, the House Election Law Committee passed HB 1322, which eases the definition of "political party" from a group that got 4% for Governor or U.S. Senator, to 3%. If the bill passes, it will have no immediate practical impact, because the only minor party on the ballot in 2012 for Governor was the Libertarian Party, which got 2.78%. There was no Senate election in New Hampshire in 2012.

New Mexico: on February 19, the legislature passed SB 125/HB 328, which makes three ballot access improvements: (1) moves the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties from April to June: (2) says petitions to qualify a new party are deemed sufficient if they appear to have enough signatures on their face, without the need to check each signature; (3) lowers the number of signatures for a different type of ballot access petition, the nominee petitions.

New Mexico is the only state that requires the nominees of a qualified minor party (other than presidential nominees) to submit a petition after they are nominated. The bill lowers the number of signatures needed on that type of petition from 1% of the last vote cast, to 1% of the last gubernatorial vote. For 2014, that is a reduction from 7,838 to 6,018 for statewide nominees. If the Governor signs the bill, it takes effect immediately. This bill exists because last year, the petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties was struck down.

Tennessee: on February 18, the Senate State & Local Government Committee held a hearing on SB 1091, which lowers the number of signatures for a new party from 2.5% of the last gubernatorial vote, to 1,000 signatures. The current law requires 40,042 signatures. Some members of the committee said if the bill were amended to 2,500 signatures, they would support it. A hearing will be held on March 18, after the sponsor of the bill has a chance to amend it.

MISSISSIPPI SECRETARY OF STATE INTERPRETS PARTY DEADLINE

On February 3, the Mississippi Secretary of State clarified the deadline for a new party to qualify for the ballot in a presidential election year, if it only wants to run for President. The ruling says a group is free to get on the ballot for President if it qualifies as late as the end of August in a presidential election year.

Mississippi does not require a petition for a group to qualify as a party. The state only requires that it file a list of party officers. In presidential years, the Mississippi primary for all office is in March, so a new party that wants to run for any office other than president must file by January 8 of the election year. But if the party is only interested in the presidential election, the paperwork can be filed much later. Therefore, the chart in the January 1, 2014 B.A.N. should list the Mississippi deadline for a new party for the presidential election as August 31, 2016, not January 8.

CALIFORNIA KEEPS AMERICANS ELECT ON BALLOT

The California Secretary of State has ruled that Americans Elect is still a ballot-qualified party, even though the registration tally released February 18 showed that it only has 3,482 registrants as of December 31, 2013. Election code section 5101 says, "Whenever the registration of any party that qualified in the previous direct primary election falls below one-fifteenth of 1% of the total state registration, that party shall not be qualified to participate in the primary election but shall be deemed to have been abandoned by the voters."

One-fifteenth of 1% of the current registration would be 11,744 members.

The basis for the Secretary of State’s decision is the preceding code section, 5100.5, which says, "Party Qualifications Reviewed by Secretary of State." That section says when a gubernatorial election has occurred, each party shall have its qualifications reviewed by the Secretary of State." Generally that means if a party didn’t poll 2% for any statewide race, it is removed from the ballot.

The Secretary believes that 5100.5 also applies to 5101, and therefore it is not appropriate to ever remove any party from the ballot for any reason, except immediately after a gubernatorial election has been held.

The only instances when a party ever was disqualified under section 5101 were the Communist Party in March 1944, and the Prohibition Party in January 1964. Section 5101 has existed since 1943. It was passed because the legislature wanted to remove the Communist Party from the ballot, but the party kept meeting the 3% vote test. By adding this second basis for removing a party from the ballot, the legislature achieved its goal, because Communist registration in the 1940’s in California was under 1,000. Most of the party’s supporters did not wish to register, because registration records were public.

According to precedent, Americans Elect cannot be removed from the ballot at the registration tally held immediately after the gubernatorial election is over (the February 2015 tally). The Prohibition Party did not have one-fifteenth of 1% of the registration at the January 1963 tally, but it wasn’t removed at that tally. In January 1963, one-fifteenth of 1% was 3,970, but the party only had 3,593 members.

Alan S. Reynolds, a registered member of Americans Elect, has filed to run for Lieutenant Governor. If he gets 2% of the June 2014 vote for that office, and if AB 2351 passes, that will extend Americans Elect’s qualified status for 2016 and 2018.

CONGRESS

Two important election law bills have been introduced in Congress recently. SB 1945 and HR 3899 would repair the part of the federal voting rights act that was invalidated by the U.S. Supreme Court last year. The lead author of the House bill is James Sensenbrenner, a Republican from Wisconsin.

HR 20 would set up a system of public funding for candidates for U.S. House. It has 133 sponsors, but only one of them, Walter B. Jones of North Carolina, is a Republican. The lead sponsor is House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi.

NATIONAL POPULAR VOTE PLAN BILLS

On February 11, the New York Senate Elections Committee passed S3149, the National Popular Vote Plan bill for presidential elections. The bill has already passed the Assembly, so it is likely to pass soon.

On February 12, the Oklahoma Senate passed SB 906, the National Popular Vote Plan, making the Oklahoma Senate only the second Republican-controlled legislative body to have ever passed the idea (the first was the New York State Senate in 2012). But no one expects the Oklahoma House to pass the bill. The state Republican Party opposes it.

NEW BALLOT ACCESS LAWSUITS FILED

Arizona: on February 25, the Green Party filed a federal lawsuit against the February 28 petition deadline for newly-qualifying parties. Arizona Green Party v Bennett. The party has been working hard on its petition to get back on the ballot, and has approximately 24,000 signatures, but probably needs another 8,000.

Arkansas: on February 6, three independent candidates filed a federal lawsuit against the March 3 petition deadline. Moore v Martin, e.d., 4:14cv-65. The 2013 session of the legislature had moved the deadline from May to March. Three times in the past (1974, 1976, and 1988), Arkansas has lost lawsuits over its independent candidate petition deadlines, and one of those decisions was summarily affirmed by the U.S. Supreme Court.

Michigan: on February 9, several groups that are conducting initiative drives filed a federal lawsuit against a law that bans out-of-state circulators for initiatives. Humane Society Legislative Fund v Johnson, e.d., 2:14-cv-10601.

Oregon: on November 8, 2013, a federal lawsuit was filed against the ban on paying petitioners on a per-signature basis. Buehler v Brown, 3:13cv-1990. An earlier lawsuit, Prete v Bradbury, failed to overturn the ban. But in that case, the Ninth Circuit wrote, "We do not hold that Measure 26 is facially constitutional", but declined to invalidate the law because there was no evidence that it injured petitioning groups. That left an opening for a new lawsuit that would present evidence.

MORE LAWSUIT NEWS

Arizona: on February 21, a 3-judge U.S. District Court ruled that Article One, section 4 of the U.S. Constitution does not mean that independent redistricting commissions for U.S. House are unconstitutional. That part of the Constitution says "The Times, Places and Manner of holding Elections for Senators and Representatives, shall be prescribed in each State by the Legislature thereof; but the Congress may at any time by Law make or alter such Regulations."

The legislature had sued, arguing that only a state legislature can write election laws for Congress (unless Congress steps in), and therefore the Independent Redistricting Commission cannot draw the district lines. By a vote of 2-1, the court ruled that "legislature" means any branch of state government authorized by that state. Arizona State Legislature v Arizona Independent Redistricting Commission, cv-12-1211. The state may appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Georgia: on January 27, the state asked for reconsideration in Green Party of Georgia v Kemp, 13-11816. The state is unhappy with the January 6 decision of the Eleventh Circuit, which said the state’s ballot access laws for minor party and independent presidential candidate may be too severe, and told the U.S. District Court to gather evidence.

Ohio: on February 11, the state dropped its appeal to the Sixth Circuit in Libertarian Party of Ohio v Husted. The issue had been whether the new ballot access restrictions passed in November 2013 could be implemented to block four minor parties from the 2014 ballot. As a result of the state dropping the appeal, the ballot spot for the parties is secure for 2014.

Pennsylvania: the Third Circuit will hold oral argument in Constitution Party v Aichele on March 4. The issue is the state’s system in which a group that submits a petition which doesn’t have enough valid signatures may be liable for court costs of up to $110,000.

Pennsylvania (2): on February 8, the state Elections office said it would no longer enforce the law that requires petition circulators, for a candidate running in a primary, to live in the district. This decision was made after a federal lawsuit had been filed against the state. Villa v Aichele, eastern district, 13-6374. Pennsylvania still requires circulators to be state residents, however.

Emily Mathews is the founder of the 1787 Party, which hopes to be organized nationwide in time for the 2016 elections. It is holding a founding national convention in Philadelphia in September, 2014, and is petitioning for a place on the Texas 2014 ballot. Her book sets forth the policy positions that the new party will advance. She is a very entertaining writer, and her chapters on subjects such as energy, education, and immigration are packed with thought-provoking and convincing ideas, and not the slightest bit dull.

The book also has biographical information, which explains why the author, a former Republican, is no longer a member of that party.

Mathews makes a strong case that we already have good ideas for solving many of our national problems, but that flaws within the two major parties prevent these ideas from being implanted. She says, "The notion that there are not intelligent and clear solutions to most of our problems is categorically false."

Like similar books written by Robert A. Levine (Resurrecting Democracy) and Professor Charles Wheelan (The Centrist Manifesto), Mathews’ book contains very little about strategy for the new party, and no mention of alternative voting systems that would make it easier to build a new party.

This chart shows the 2014 independent candidate petition deadlines. It is bizarre that even though federal law requires all states to hold congressional elections in November, the range of filing deadlines for independent candidate petitions ranges all the way from February 6 to September 2.A few states require declarations of candidacy before the petition is due.

A new party is now ballot-qualified in South Carolina. The American Party, which holds itself out as a centrist party, successfully obtained 10,000 valid signatures and plans to run candidates in 2014 for county office and legislature. See the party’s web page at americanpartysc.com.

Also, a new party, the Independent Party, has qualified in Hawaii.

MARIANNE WILLIAMSON CAMPAIGN

Well-known author Marianne Williamson has hired two experienced campaign consultants, in her campaign for U.S. House as an independent from California’s 33rd district. She is hoping to raise $1,500,000. No independent has been elected to the U.S. House since 2004.

LIBERTARIANS, GREENS, SET 2014 NATIONAL CONVENTIONS

Both the Libertarian Party and the Green Party have set the locations of their 2014 national conventions. The Libertarian Party meets in Columbus, Ohio, June 26-29, at the Hyatt Regency. The Green Party meets in St. Paul, Minnesota, July 24-27, at Macalester College.

NEW INDEPENDENT CANDIDATES FOR CALIFORNIA STATEWIDE OFFICE

The January 1, 2014 B.A.N. mentioned that Dan Schnur is running for California Secretary of State as an independent candidate. Since then, independent candidates have declared for two more California statewide offices. Orly Taitz will be an independent candidate for Attorney General. She had run as a Republican for Secretary of State in 2010, and for U.S. Senate in 2012, but she has since left the Republican Party.

Robert C. Newman will be an independent candidate for Governor.

DEMOCRATS WILL RUN NO ONE FOR U.S. SENATE IN ALABAMA

For the first time in history, no Democrat will run for U.S. Senate in Alabama this year. Incumbent Republican Senator Jeff Sessions is running for re-election.

Other statewide offices in Alabama this year with no Democrats are Justice of the Supreme Court, and both seats on the Public Service Commission. If any minor party could get on the ballot this year, it could realistically hope to poll 20% for at least one of these four races, which would put it on the ballot for 2016.

INDEPENDENT AMERICAN PARTY HAS AFFILIATES ON BALLOT IN FOUR STATES

The Independent American Party now has state affiliates on the ballot in four states. It is a conservative party which differentiates itself from the Constitution Party by saying that the Constitution Party is too entangled with religion.

The IAP recently completed its first ballot access petition, for party status in Utah. In addition, its activists have taken control of the ballot-qualified Americans Elect Party in Arizona. In Oregon, the ballot-qualified Constitution Party, which has not been part of the national Constitution Party for several years, has become the Oregon branch of the Independent American Party, although it does not intend to give up its "Constitution Party" name. Finally, in New Mexico, the ballot-qualified Independent American Party, which was formed in 2012 by individuals who had no connection with the national Independent American Party, is now the New Mexico affiliate of the national IAP.

The national chair of the IAP is Kelly Gneiting, a 400-pound sumo wrestler who lives in Arizona. In 2011, he was recognized by the Guinness book as the heaviest man ever to complete a marathon.

The Nevada state affiliate of the Constitution Party is named Independent American Party, but the Nevada IAP party has no connection with the national IAP.

SUBSCRIBING TO BAN WITH PAYPAL

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In a midterm year (which 2014 is) national affiliation of various state parties is completely irrelevant. Only in a presidential year is it relevant. If the Constitution Party of Oregon doesn’t like being listed as a Constitution Party, it is free to change its name. Oregon lets qualified parties change their name. Just a few years ago Oregon let the Peace Party change its name to the Progressive Party.

As I said before, whether a state party is affiliated with a national party is irrelevant in a midterm year. For all we know, the Constitution Party of Oregon will re-affilate with the national Constitution Party by 2016, when it matters.

There have been Green Party state parties that weren’t affiliated with the national Green Party at various times. All the publications that print election returns for 2014 are going to list the Constitution Party of Oregon in the Constitution Party nationally. For instance, Statistics of the Congressional Election for 2014 will put all the Constitution Party Oregon candidates in the “Constitution Party” column, and they will be adding to the national Constitution Party congressional vote total. I am not alone in how I handle this.